As David Grant was led away after his arraignment Tuesday in Norwich Superior Court, he apologized to family members of the woman he is accused of killing.

But many of them were in no mood to accept it.

“He’s a coward,” said Stephen Roderick, who was the companion of Donna Richardson who was shot and killed June 24 at the Mai Thai Restaurant and Bar on Laurel Hill Avenue in Norwich while there after celebrating the graduation of her sister’s son. “Any coward can go into a bar and shoot someone.”

Grant, 33, is charged with murder, first-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a handgun. Judge Kevin McMahon set bail for Grant at $2.5 million, plus $10,000 apiece for a pair of probation violations.

Grant’s case was transferred to New London Superior Court, where he is scheduled to appear Jan. 7.

Norwich police arrested Grant Monday after he was extradited from Baltimore. Baltimore police had arrested him last week on an unrelated charge. Grant had been a fugitive since shortly after the killing.

According to police, Grant fired two shots at an unknown person at the bar. He hit and killed Richardson and hit Crystal Roderick, Stephen Roderick’s niece, in her thigh. She also was part of the graduation celebration.

Crystal Roderick said outside court that she is still getting physical therapy to recover from her wound.

“Everything tore in my leg,” she said.

At first, she said, she hadn’t felt the bullet. “Somebody pointed out I got shot.”

“Donna wanted basically to stay there with her nieces,” an emotional Stephen Roderick said about the shooting. “She never came home. She died that night.”

Roderick said Richardson was shot in the side, the bullet went through her heart and killed her.

“I think about her every day,” he said, describing his girlfriend as a beautiful, fun-loving person.

Roderick said the bar should have had security and he threatened to sue its owners. The Mai Thai closed in August.

Devan Jarmon, 24, of Norwich, was arrested July 23 for allegedly shooting a gun into the air from the front parking lot on the night of the shooting. He hit a house across the street, police said.

Grant is familiar to police. Along with a criminal history and stints in prison, he is the same man who was shot in the face twice in 2010 while seated in a car on Talman Street in Norwich.

Records show Grant, who was living on Sullivan Drive in Norwich at the time, sustained shattered teeth and face bones, along with a serious eye injury.

Shane Chisholm, 22, of Norwich, who police suspect has gang affiliations, was sentenced in March to five years in prison for shooting Grant. Chisholm claimed he acted in self-defense.